Finding a research advisor

[A.U.]

I went through a horrible time with my advisor and I was really upset that I didn't find all the truth about him during my visit day. The former grad students were afraid of telling the truth. So, after suffering through an advisor change, I decided to make a website to provide grad students an avenue to post (anonymous) experiences that they have had working/interacting with their grad school advisors. I would like this collection of posts to serve as a reference for prospective grad students to learn much more about prospective advisors qualities - all the stuff that isn’t necessarily apparent from their well manicured CVs.

Please help spread the word and also write posts so that prospective students don't go through the same hell I went through.

The website is: http://www.advisorsunclassified.com/

Thank you

[Xanthan]

I just took a look at the website... as Porky Pig would say, "That's all folks!" All the reviews were totally positive, even fawning. Now, quite possibly (probably?) the advisors mentioned are great... but perfect? No one had anything critical to say? It sounds like grad students kissing up to me. Not that I'm suprised... except in the largest lab groups, it probably wouldn't be hard to figure out who had complaints, especially if those complaints were specific enough to be useful. And if students were afraid to speak about profs in private (you did ask in private, right?), I'd think they'd be too afraid to post online (in writing! un-deleteable!).

I think this is more a cautionary tale for prospective students entering PhD programs. If there are no opportunities for students to be candid during your visit, or if you don't hear ANYTHING critical about faculty, be very wary of that situation.

[Eigen]

I agree, if you don't hear anything negative, they probably aren't being honest. Everyone has something negative to say about their bosses.

Ours encourage us to be as honest as possible when we take prospective students out at night... They don't want someone coming on false expectations.

[MeanderingPhD]

During a visit to one school, two professors asked to speak to me to tell me not to work with Dr. X. At another university, multiple students told me not to work with Dr. Y. If the research adviser was really bad something like what I had mentioned would have happened.

[hejduk]

I didn't ask about a specific advisor during my visit, but I know the students were not comfortable being completely open about the program. I haven't had bad vibes or heard something negative, but I wish they were allowed and given the opportunity like Eigen was.

[ktel]

I think everybody conflicts with their advisor at some point, but even the negative interactions can have a positive outcome. The advisor I ended up choosing is the one I feel I know the least about him and his research group, so I am a little nervous about that, but I hope it will work out well.

[A.U.]

It is true that most reviews so far have been very positive, but we are just starting and I am hoping that some grad students will have the courage to tell the truth. If you know someone that had a bad experience, please let them know about this. I am also trying to convince former grad students to write about their former advisors.

[A.U.]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually have a question for you guys:

I am thinking of changing the website to instead of asking to write a post, to basically asking to answer simple questions with "yes" or "no" answers, rating your advisor from 1 to 10 in some qualities and maybe even choosing some adjectives that describe you advisor from checkboxes. Do you think you would be more inclined to rate your advisor?

Thanks a lot for all the feedback

[Eigen]

Honestly, I'm just not a huge fan of anonymous ratings systems.

I didn't think sites like "Ratemyprofessor" were very good as an undergrad, and I feel the same way about sites allowing graduate students to rate their advisors.

As young professionals (graduate students) I think we should be old enough, and mature enough, to either state our opinions about teachers and advisors openly- or realize the reasons why we aren't. Anonymity goes hand in hand with a complete lack of accountability. Instead of encouraging anonymous ratings, encourage graduate students to be honest when prospective students visit.

Learn the subtle ways to hint at bad bosses and bad teachers without anything that is straight up. Saying things like "they have an unusual teaching style" or "they're very dedicated, they work in the lab with us until 2 am every morning" or "they have very high standards for their work, and expect everyone else to have the same" are all polite and acceptable ways of communicating information, and they don't need to be done anonymously. Not only that, but both giving and picking up such subtle cues is a necessary skill to gain for the rest of your academic career!

[Eigen]

I didn't ask about a specific advisor during my visit, but I know the students were not comfortable being completely open about the program. I haven't had bad vibes or heard something negative, but I wish they were allowed and given the opportunity like Eigen was.

I'll also comment on this, for any of you that are going to be or already are grad students- heck with being "allowed" or given the opportunity- make the opportunities! It's not hard to meet prospective students when they're touring the labs, get their numbers and tell them that a bunch of grad students are going out to a bar later that night. Take the prospectives, get a bunch of current grad students, and give them a chance to talk to you and get to know you in a personal setting. Rarely do schools schedule anything for the prospective students to do late at night, so it's a good time. Even if there isn't anything to directly communicate, it's really nice to make some personal connections with the people that might be coming to work with you next year- and for them to have people they can call when they do get to town.

[SNPCracklePop]

I'll also comment on this, for any of you that are going to be or already are grad students- heck with being "allowed" or given the opportunity- make the opportunities! It's not hard to meet prospective students when they're touring the labs, get their numbers and tell them that a bunch of grad students are going out to a bar later that night. Take the prospectives, get a bunch of current grad students, and give them a chance to talk to you and get to know you in a personal setting. Rarely do schools schedule anything for the prospective students to do late at night, so it's a good time. Even if there isn't anything to directly communicate, it's really nice to make some personal connections with the people that might be coming to work with you next year- and for them to have people they can call when they do get to town.

Eigen's totally right about making opportunities. Take advantage of social networking sites. Look up past graduates of prospective advisors as well, find them on Facebook, and send them a message. They'll tell you what you need to know.

[nehs]

I don't add anything to add you , but I have a question. Do these 'points' discussed here hold for master's level thesis advisor's too? Or is a master's level thesis too trivial in comparison to a PhD thesis?

Edited July 1, 2011 by nehs

[ktel]

I don't add anything to add you , but I have a question. Do these 'points' discussed here hold for master's level thesis advisor's too? Or is a master's level thesis too trivial in comparison to a PhD thesis?

It's still 2 years of your life, so yes absolutely. A Master's thesis is certainly not trivial, I'm not sure why you would think that. Perhaps that goes back to the thread I previously started about the prevalence of Bachelor's to PhD as opposed to Bachelor's to Master's to PhD.

[juilletmercredi]

I agree with Eigen, especially the subtley issue. I have my ways of telling people about the negatives of my advisor (most of which he would agree with anyway) and the horrible bureaucracy at my university (which even the most uptight of them would acknowledge). I tend to be a rather blunt and straightforward person so I kind of just say it, but that's because my advisor in particular is a good one. When people have asked me about other professors that I know are horrible, I am more evasive but still pretty...straight...about their abilities.

I'd never post on a website like that, because I would never write anything publicly that I also wouldn't say publicly. The Internet is not private, and academia is a small world.

I also agree that you need to make opportunities to talk with grad students. Personally I think if a program hasn't scheduled any time in for you to chat with current students, that should be a red flag (or at least a pink one), but in my experience grad students are always willing to talk to prospectives. I'm a particularly chatty one and I've answered a number of emails and conducted quite a few phone calls from prospective students, and I also Skyped with one in Spain at about 10 pm to try to balance out the time difference.

[ktel]

I was quite pleased when I went to an open house at the University of Toronto, where they specifically organized a night out with current grad students at a local pub (beer and food paid by the department). It was a fantastic way to get to know the students and a great venue for getting the whole story about the professors.

Unfortunately, not every school will organize something like that, but you could always attempt to organize it yourself. A good professor should want you to meet his or her research group in a social setting anyways.

[Behavioral]

I was quite pleased when I went to an open house at the University of Toronto, where they specifically organized a night out with current grad students at a local pub (beer and food paid by the department). It was a fantastic way to get to know the students and a great venue for getting the whole story about the professors.

Unfortunately, not every school will organize something like that, but you could always attempt to organize it yourself. A good professor should want you to meet his or her research group in a social setting anyways.

I was actually taken out by the grad students 7/7 of the interviews I got this year. No professors around made the conversations really central to how the students really felt about the program. The food and drinks weren't bad either!

[Eigen]

We get moony to take the prospectives out to lunch, but we usually pay out of pocket to take them out to a bar in the evening... We look at it as the first gesture towards people who will hopefully be our peers sometime soon.

[Eigen]

We get money to take the prospectives out to lunch, but we usually pay out of pocket to take them out to a bar in the evening... We look at it as the first gesture towards people who will hopefully be our peers sometime soon.